Red Sox, Napoli agree on contract

The long national nightmare has just about ended. Mike Napoli and the Red Sox have agreed to a contract, and it could be a victory for the Red Sox.

Having bestowed a three-year, $39 million deal on Napoli, who would be their first basemen, the Sox discovered abnormalities in the veteran’s medical testing, specifically his hip, and the two sides embarked on a prolonged solution. Napoli has agreed on a one-year deal valued at about $5 million, with incentives that could boost it considerably.

“It’s fair to say we’ve made some progress the last day or so,” GM Ben Cherington said before a Town Meeting at LaSalle Academy Thursday night. “Hopefully we’ll have something more formal to say soon, but not tonight.”
Cherington indicated that the announcement could come next week.

The signing is significant because first base was the last remaining key hole to fill on a roster that both Cherington and manager John Farrell are feeling quite good about. Perhaps the biggest problem facing them is a lack of a left-handed bat from the first base spot.

“Yeah, we’d like to find someone like that,” Cherington said. “We’ll look at some options between now and spring training, perhaps, and if we can’t find anything it may turn into a spring training project and we’ll keep looking then.”
At the moment, the key option is Mauro Gomez, who batted .275 with two home runs in 37 games for the Red Sox last season. Not only was he named the International League MVP last year, but he is coming off a Most Valuable Player Dominican League season, as well.

“He had a good winter, hit a bunch of home runs,” Cherington said. “I think we’ll see a lot of him in spring training.”

Cherington Thursday not only made progress on the Napoli front, but also began the process of signing his arbitration-eligible players. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and the club agreed to a one-year deal for $4.5 million, leaving right-handers Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Bailey, Daniel Bard, and Joel Hanrahan, left-handers Craig Breslow, Andrew Miller and Franklin Morales, and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury as the remaining unsigned arbitration eligible.

Farrell and Cherington said that the upcoming World Baseball Classic doesn’t figure to be an issue with them, although Farrell indicated that he would certainly like to have newcomer Shane Victorino, who will play for Team USA, in training camp.

“In this first spring training for us, for the new staff, with a number of new players, the time that we spend together will be critical for us,” Farrell said. “How we identify each other is going to be key. But we’re not going to stand in the way, nor can we stand in the way of the WBC and representing countries that our players are from, so what that final roster looks like, who we might miss, we’ll probably reserve judgment till we see the total number of players that might be out of camp.”

Also expected to play are Alfredo Aceves for Mexico and Xander Bogaerts for the Netherlands. Bogaerts isn’t likely to play much shortstop—the Braves’ Andrelton Simmons would get the nod — so the Sox have to monitor how he’ll be used. They feel that he’s wanted mostly for his bat, anyway. Aceves would have been stretched out with the Sox, so if he starts for Mexico, it’s not an issue with the club.

“I guess whenever you have less control over a player you have a little bit of anxiety,” Cherington said, “but, look, they’re gonna be playing games one way or another.”

Finally, Farrell said he’s been here there and everywhere as he prepares for his first camp as Sox manager.

“I’ll have a chance to go down and see John Lackey in the morning. Felix Doubront and Franklin Morales have reported to Fort Myers. So I’ll shoot down there on Saturday. Then I’ll see Daniel Bard Sunday morning over in Mississippi before we’ve got three days of organizational meetings here starting on Monday. So continuation of reconnecting with a number of guys either in person. And a lot of spring training planning going on with (bench coach) Torey Lovullo and the rest of the staff. So it’s getting to be that time and kind of the normal paces that either you’ve used in the past or things that you really need to get done. And getting in front of guys I thought was really important this year.”

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